"Go on, touch it. I've put the safety on."Football on a Friday night? It's just not cricket. Perhaps that was the reason for Tottenham's utterly distasteful performance at Vicarage Road as they scraped past a plucky Watford. If you were to believe the general theme of the commentary and post-match media reports, you'd be forgiven for thinking Spurs arrived in north west London, rudely parked their giant team coach wherever they chose, shaped to headbutt anyone and everyone on their way in and spend the entire game cheating and coercing the ref into allowing them victory.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp set-up a secret offshore 'bung' account named after his pet dog, a court heard yesterday. Redknapp was said to have received "bungs or offshore bonuses" from former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric during his time at Fratton Park. The payments were allegedly received into a bank account in Monaco.

It's January, as you might've noticed; and if you hadn't I would suggest those New Year's resolutions about not drinking anything that really ought to be kept on a shelf in the shed aren't going all that well. For the rest of you, you know the score. It's the beginning of the year and that can mean only one thing: the always-good-for-a-laugh-don't-believe-everything-you hear-better-off-not-opening-any-tabloid-newspapers-or-football-websites-for-a-month-pick-any-name-out-of-a-hat.

Harry's pre-match comments have pretty much given us the starting line up for tonight but there are still some gaps to fill in,

"I was doing a little bit of work with them this morning and there's seven internationals in there," said Harry.

"Defoe is here, Gio Dos Santos, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Kaboul, Pienaar, Niko, Sandro, they will all play.

Recreating 'Reservoir Dogs' could not lift the boys
After Blackburn Rovers' exit from the League Cup at the hands of Cardiff City on Tuesday night, Steve Kean suggested his side had "forfeited" the game to concentrate on Premier League survival.
And, while Tottenham are approaching the halfway point of the season with the opportunity to strengthen their hold on a place in the top four, Harry Redknapp showed no signs of surrendering the club's place in the Europa League against PAOK ahead of the clash at White Hart Lane.

Well what a relief that that has been cleared up. Apparently the Defoe goal was disallowed because of a foul committed by Pavluychenko in the fixture played back in Greece in September. Or perhaps for a foul by Graham Roberts in our '84 UEFA campaign. Or maybe it was Mackay back in '61. Well, whatever the incident, it was definitely a foul.

Me neither. In fact, I'm not sure there is a soul alive who understands quite how we managed to toddle off from that with a win, but bearing in mind the perils that lurk within the mouths of gift-horses I suggest we stuff the three points under our jumpers and sneak off before anyone notices.

It might be an idea for Jake Livermore and Sebastien Bassong to bond over a Jason Statham DVD night or some other such bromantic activity, because last night neither seemed to be aware that the other was of the same species, let alone the same centre-back pairing.

By Chris Wright

Pies' pick of the 15 best photos from last night's Europa League action...

Lokomotiv Moscow's Felipe Caicedo celebrates his injury time goal against AEK Athens as he passes AEK keeper Giannis Arabatzis

The Britannia Stadium sits empty an hour or so before Stoke City kicked off against Maccabi Tel Aviv

Besiktas' Filip Holosko and Dynamo Kiev's Betao gurn away while tussling in the air over Kiev

Birmingham fans decorate the square in the centre of Bruges before kick-off

Standard Liege's Yoni Buyens almost has his face pummelled by Vorskla Poltava goalkeeper Serhiy Dolganskiy

Club Brugge 'keeper Colin Cooseman celebrates his side's early lead against Birmingham, though it didn't last with Brum eventually winning it 2-1 in the 9th minute of injury time

Kenwyne Jones celebrates in customary style after scoring the opening goal for Stoke against Maccabi Tel Aviv

Legia Warszawa's Maciej Rybus gets crumpled in a pile-up with Rapid Bucharest duo Rui Duarte and 'keeper Danut Coman

Tottenham's Danny Rose is fouled on the edge of the box by Rubin Kazan captain Roman Sharonov.

If Danny Rose takes to the pitch against Rubin Kazan tonight, it will be a welcome sight for Spurs fans to see one of our brightest stars return from a troublesome long term injury.

Rose was converted to an emergency left back last season and impressed in the role to give some much needed competition and back up for BAE's slot and this position is now a long term target for the player.

Trio pull out of England U21 squad to face Iceland and Norway

Connor Wickham, Danny Rose and Joe Bennett will not feature in the European Championship qualifiers

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-10-03 19:16:34 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Presumably there were some onlookers last night so enraged by our inability to score as the game wore on last night that they tore up their season tickets at half-time, their apoplexy no doubt reaching such levels when we actually fell behind that they chopped off their own feet and howled for the entire team to be sacked.

With fourth spot in the Premiership all but wrapped up it's time for everyone to swing around and face this direction once again, just hither. I appreciate it can be jolly dashed mind-boggling these days trying to separate one competition from the next, but my spies tell me that tonight it's Europa.

With fourth spot in the Premiership all but wrapped up it's time for everyone to swing around and face this direction once again, just hither. I appreciate it can be jolly dashed mind-boggling these days trying to separate one competition from the next, but my spies tell me that tonight it's Europa.

Harry Redknapp has already told us to expect some more experience in the Spurs side to face Shamrock Rovers tonight and with players returning from injury, this should be the strongest team that we have put out in the Europa League since our opening game against Hearts.

It also makes it harder to predict but we can assume that Carlo Cudicini will continue in goal with Corluka and Bassong taking the centre half positions.

While Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has used the Europa League to blood many of the younger players at the club, there is another benefit to the competition as he will discover tomorrow night.

It has been difficult for Harry to find any positives from European qualification but tomorrow's game against Shamrock Rovers gives the boss a possible opportunity to give run outs to Aaron Lennon, Steven Pienaar and Danny Rose.

There are some fresh injury worries for Spurs ahead of tomorrow's game with Wigan at the JJB with news that Niko Kranjcar has been ruled out while left back Benoit Assou-Ekotto is a doubt with illness.

According to the club website, William Gallas is available ‘soon' so if he misses out tomorrow, King and Kaboul should continue their centre half pairing in front of Brad Friedel.

As Danny Rose signs a new contract that will keep him at White Hart Lane for the next few years it's clear how highly the club rate him. It had looked for a time however that we would only ever have that goal against Arsenal to remember him by but after injuries forced Harry to try him out at left back last season, Rose's versatility underlined just what an asset he could be for the club.

Harry had wanted a quiet pre-season but Kevin Bond's comedy tumbleweed was just ridiculous'It's oh so quiet, ssshhhh, ssshhhh'. Let that be the first and last time Bjork is ever paraphrased on this previously refutable publication.
The girl's got a point though. There's little activity in the world of Spurs these days, unless you choose to include meaningless transfer gossip as 'activity'.

Harry had wanted a quiet pre-season but Kevin Bond's comedy tumbleweed was just ridiculous'It's oh so quiet, ssshhhh, ssshhhh'. Let that be the first and last time Bjork is ever paraphrased on this previously refutable publication.
The girl's got a point though. There's little activity in the world of Spurs these days, unless you choose to include meaningless transfer gossip as 'activity'.

Two of the club's up and coming stars were rewarded with new contracts yesterday as Danny Rose and Kyle Walker put pen to paper on deals that will take them to 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Both players were involved with England under 21's in the summer and while Walker impressed at Aston Villa, Rose returned to the Spurs' first team and showed his versatility by covering for BAE at left back.

As last season drew to a close it appeared that Spurs only hope for European football was the Europa League that came with 5th place. Arguments raged as to whether or not this was a good thing and it appeared Harry Redknapp and a number of his players didn't seem keen on the idea.

The Gary Cahill rumour has continued throughout the week and what is really interesting are the different stories suggesting what Spurs are really prepared to offer for the player.

Very few rumours state that we are looking to go in with a straight cash deal and the majority suggest that a player will be offered to Owen Coyle as part of the deal.

By Chris Wright

A rather drab, 'hoofy' goalless draw with Ukraine last night left the England U21s needing a three-point haul (they also drew their first game with Spain, despite being dismally outplayed) from their final Group B game against the Czech Republic to progress through to the semis after Spain's impressive young charges beat the Czechs 2-0 in Wednesday evening's other tie.

By Chris Wright

A rather drab, 'hoofy' goalless draw with Ukraine last night left the England U21s needing a three-point haul (they also drew their first game with Spain, despite being dismally outplayed) from their final Group B game against the Czech Republic to progress through to the semis after Spain's impressive young charges beat the Czechs 2-0 in Wednesday evening's other tie.

It may seem strange to say this with no senior international tournament but, this summer promises to be one of the most exciting of recent times. Let me explain.

This week has seen the start of the European Under-21 Championships. At a time when the England team is going through something of a transformative stage and with growing calls for young blood to be given its chance, the importance of this tournament has never been greater.

Under-21 Euro 2011: Players To Watch - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

With no senior tournament for Europe this summer, it is the chance for the next generation to shine. Here are eleven youngsters hoping to catch the eye at the forth coming 2011 Under 21 European Championships in Denmark.

After Danny Rose made his first team comeback at the weekend, manager Harry Redknapp believes the player could have a definite future at left back.

Redknapp said: "Danny did well at left-back and I had no doubts that he would do well. That's his position. That's where he'll play.

"I was delighted with him.

It seems that everyone on this website has been able to spot Spurs' attacking deficiencies for months, but they've only been highlighted in recent weeks because the likes of Bale and VDV haven't been scoring the goals that should be coming from the strikers.

We go into tomorrow's game having not scored in the last four so where's the next goal coming from?

A young Spurs XI triumphed over a Reading side at Spurs Lodge yesterday as they edged the game 2-1.

Spurs goals came in the first 15 minutes as first Dean Parrett and then Ryan Pritchard took us into a 2-0 lead. We couldn't press home our advantage however, as Reading scored late to leave Spurs hanging on for the win.

That Billy Clifford. He can play.

So, too, can Josh McEachran. But you already knew that. Nathaniel Chalobah, he's the monster Chelsea are obviously trying to keep under wraps. On recent displays, the world will soon know of the native of Sierra Leone.

They're not alone.

While there may be little transfer action involving Spurs right now, there is plenty more news to bring on the loan front.

The club has announced that Tom Carroll will be joining Leyton Orient until the end of the season. The O's may be unhappy with Spurs over the stadium proposals but that hasn't stopped them making use of our youngsters.

That was just about as straightforward as could have been hoped, just about every box ticked by 3.30pm. Key personnel rested; squad members got 90 minutes; home-grown youngster made Danny Rose-esque impact on debut (fingers crossed the next few months are a bit brighter for him than for the boy Rose); clean sheet; no injuries; no suspensions; opportunity for Defoe to return to sharpness; etc.